Karsten Konrad

Karsten Konrad started in the 1990s to create installations and objects out of materials found in the trash and subsequently modified into modules. With these, he took up thematically outstanding urban structures in Berlin, transforming them into idiosyncratic architectural models. In recent years, however, these model-like works have made way for increasingly abstract sculptures and relief works. Since the original point of departure for Konrad’s work as an artist was the autonomous abstract sculpture, this may seem like a return to his beginnings. However, it should rather be understood as the consistent continuation and expansion of his sculptural transformations of architecture, which in terms of form he liberated from their strict character as models, calling them “explosions of architecture.”

The exhibition "abstract confusion" gathers 22 current outstanding artistic positions from the last ten years where one can see a clear development of new abstraction. This exhibition will present stars from the scene for example, Frank Nitsche and Thomas Scheibitz and newcomers such as, Wolfgang Flad and Shannon Finnley.

The current theme "abstraction" is elevated and the exhibition will provide one an overview of our contemporary abstract tendencies throughout all media. The theme will unfold itself through painting, photography, sculpture, installations and videos out of the abstract context. What is the specific "new" in new abstraction? What does it mean when artists turn to abstraction? Is it turning away from reality or is there an underlying aesthetic utopian counter development?

Exhibitions

PRESS RELEASE
Arndt & Partner Berlin is pleased to announce a joint exhibition by Karsten Konrad and Tim Trantenroth in the Gallery 2nd Floor. The two Berlin artists collaborated for the first time for this show. The point of departure for this cooperation was the fact that both in Karsten Konrad's sculptural works and Tim Trantenroth's paintings, we can observe an intense engagement with the urban architectural structures of the city where they live and work.

Thus, Karsten Konrad started in the 1990s to create installations and objects out of materials found in the trash and subsequently modified into modules. With these, he took up thematically outstanding urban structures in Berlin, transforming them into idiosyncratic architectural models. In recent years, however, these model-like works have made way for increasingly abstract sculptures and relief works. Since the original point of departure for Konrad's work as an artist was the autonomous abstract sculpture, this may seem like a return to his beginnings. However, it should rather be understood as the consistent continuation and expansion of his sculptural transformations of architecture, which in terms of form he liberated from their strict character as models, calling them "explosions of architecture."

In contrast to Karsten Konrad, Tim Trantenroth uses paintings to develop his themes. In his works, we find an emphatic engagement with the construction principles of modern functional buildings. Thus in his paintings we often encounter adaptations of typified but versatile facade designs, as well as the side effects of this architecture like, for example, surveillance cameras or uncounted variations of concrete barriers. His paintings are very reduced and simplified both in their formal language and their colours, corresponding to the dull grey of contemporary architecture. Individual features of the painted buildings become only visible on close examination; sometimes Trantenroth makes reference to a certain building in his titles: Chancellery, Finance Ministry, or Danish Embassy in Berlin. But the titles do not just refer to the respective sites, but also to the specific meaning of architecture in its symbolic dimension.

Tim Trantenroth, born 1969 in the Fichtelgebirge, Germany, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Münster and the Art Academy Düsseldorf. He lives and works in Berlin. He presented solo exhibitions at the Kunstruimte Villa de Bank, Enschede (2005), and Förderverein Aktuelle Kunst, Münster (2002), among others. Group exhibitions he participated in include "Cada uno para sí y Dios contra todos", OMR Gallery, Mexico City (2007), "Classified", The Cartin Collection, Hartford, Connecticut (2006), Uwaga Berlin, Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art, Slupsk, Poland (2005) and open minded, dollhouse Orchard Street, New York (2004), which he co-curated. This is his first exhibition at Arndt & Partner Berlin, after we had introduced him to the Swiss public with his solo show in Zurich in 2006.

PRESS RELEASE
In his first solo show with Arndt & Partner in Zurich, the Berlin based artist Karsten Konrad performs a kind of tour de force through the history of art of the 20th century by embracing elements of Cubism, Constructivism, Surrealism, Ready-made, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Minimal.
Bulky waste items and furniture parts are used in the creation of his sculptures, which can be divided into three groups: wall pieces in relief, which resemble Abstracts on wood; wall sculptures, which disregard static geometries and interplay with the wall itself; and, finally, flowing, playful, dance-like forms and statically constructed architecture. Here, the viewer is exposed to three-dimensional logos, graffiti tags or exploding architectural situations.